Next Monday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is due to hear an appeal filed by Russia’s Paralympic Committee (RPC) to fight a ban preventing the team from competing at the Rio Olympics, the committee’s press service has said.
Chairman of the RPC Executive Committee and RPC First Vice-President Pavel Rozhkov said that the CAS has confirmed that the hearing will be held in Rio de Janeiro at 9.00 a.m. local time, the press service said.
A decision is expected to be handed down during the first half of Tuesday, August 23. The RPC sent an appeal to the CAS on August 15.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) opened proceedings against the RPC on July 22 after receiving from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) a list of 35 Russian Paralympians, mentioned in the recent report of the Richard McLaren-led Independent Commission. Early this month, IPC chief Philip Craven said that ten more Russian Paralympians were suspected of violating anti-doping regulations.
Based on the McLaren report, WADA’s Executive Committee last month pressed the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee and all international sports federations to bar Russian athletes from all international competitions, including the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics.
On August 7, the IPC slapped a blanket ban on the Russian Paralympic team, barring it from participating in the Rio Games slated for September 7-18.
The RPC has earlier announced it was raising funds to file a lawsuit at the CAS in Lausanne. Last week businessman and Vice-President of the Professional Boxing Federation of Russia, Andrey Ryabinsky, told TASS that he would provide lawyers and cover all costs for this process.